Gates in '04 said 'spam soon to be thing of past' and me on Charlie Rose about the real solution

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The answer is obvious

Everyone has known the answer to spam for a long time. No one wants to implement it:

1) Have every email go to a digital "Post Office". That Post Office generates an encrypted digital "envelope". At the beginning of each envelope is a counter. Initially the envelope counter is set to 5.

2) At each intermediate station from source to recipient the station subtracts 1 from the counter.

3) When the counter reaches 0 that station performs an envelope verification through the Post Office.

4) Anytime an envelope cannot be verified it simply is discarded on the assumption it is spam. A validated envelope gets reset to 5 and continues on its way.

5) Regarding the "increased overhead" of envelope validation, it would be nowhere near as much as having 75-90% of emails being spam, the current situation. Once this process made spam essentially obsolete the counter could be increased to 7 or higher.

6) Counterfeiting an envelope is a criminal offense, just like counterfeiting stamps or tampering with a postage meter.


PROBLEMS:

1) Who will pay for it? This would require some form of postage. 1 cent per email would be crippling for large non-profit organizations, etc., and third-world businesses.

2) Different countries would want to run their own digital Post Offices, not something run by the U.N., the U.S., or the E.U.

3) Everyone would starting adding their own "little charge" to the postal fee.

4) Having all email run through central government-controlled locations--possibly one per country--would present irresistible opportunities for spying and control of communications.

Posted by: Rick_R   Posted on: 10/08/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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